Tully: Disturbing photos reveal challenges facing Indy's children

Dec. 10, 2013

Many children in Indianapolis grow up surrounded by crime and dysfunction. / Danese Kenon

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Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry has had a stack of papers on his desk for months — a stack of papers filled with heartbreak.

“These pictures literally haunt me,” he said as he handed them to me the other day.

They tell the dysfunctional story of a 23-year-old man with gang ties who was killed by police two years ago, after he shot a patrol officer. Pulled from the dead man’s Facebook page, the photos make clear the obstacles so many of our city’s children face.

The first photo, dark and a bit grainy, shows the man flashing gang signs while his son, about 3, sits in his lap holding a semi-automatic handgun. This is fatherhood in some homes in Indianapolis.

Another photo deeper in the stack shows the man sleeping shirtless in bed, his son sleeping with him. The man is holding a handgun; it rests on a pillow, perhaps 12 inches from the young boy’s head. A third photo shows the father and son flipping off the camera as the little boy holds a video game controller in his lap, a sweet smile on his face.

The words on the father’s Facebook page, meanwhile, are filled with hate, violent threats, slurs and rage.

“As I looked at this,” Curry said, “one thought repeated in my head: What chance does this little boy have?”

What chance does he have to succeed in life, or to stay out of trouble? What chance does he have to make smart and safe life decisions when one of the most important influences in his life, his father, taught him violence, anger and incivility before he even reached kindergarten?

I’m not printing the dead man’s name in this column because there’s no reason to add to the challenges faced by the son he left behind. His name doesn’t matter anyway; what matters is that many stories just like his are playing out throughout the city.

Looking at the photos, I hope that somehow the boy can overcome the cruel reality of his life. That he understands that his father was not a role model. And that someone — from among his teachers, counselors, social workers and family — can somehow guide him in a better direction.

But the reality is clear: Many kids fail to ever overcome unfair life circumstances. What happens at home in those early years shapes them and haunts them.

“It’s just a single situation,” Curry said. “But this is a perfect example of the challenge of breaking that cycle that passes from generation to generation.”

As he said in a recent column, Curry repeated one potential path forward: quality early education for children who come from at-risk homes, and more efforts to encourage better parenting and “some semblance of a healthy family situation.”

There’s no easy answer. But as we seek solutions, there does need to be a better understanding of the lives so many children are forced to live.